Photo by Neeta Lind

Advocates of legalizing medical marijuana for chronically and terminally ill patients have decided to scale back their campaign to pass such legislation this year because of Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s veto pen. In 2009, both chambers at the Capitol passed medical marijuana legislation with bipartisan support — only to see Pawlenty veto the legislation. Medical marijuana advocates had hinted at a constitutional amendment this session to bypass Pawlenty, but that won’t be the plan for 2010.

“Because Governor Pawlenty has announced that he is not seeking re-election in 2010, and because we don’t want to give him the ‘pleasure’ of vetoing another bill to help seriously ill Minnesotans, our focus has shifted to 2011,” read a statement from Minnesotans for Compassionate Care. “We intend to do everything in our power to ensure that a supportive gubernatorial candidate is in office when the next legislative session begins in January 2011.”

The group says it will continue to work with the law enforcement lobby to see if they can reach a compromise this session.

“MCC is meeting with law enforcement to answer their questions and learn about their objections,” the group wrote. “If law enforcement works with us in good faith, we may be able to introduce a bill that Governor Pawlenty will sign.”

Bradlee Dean

“Homosexuality is against the law in the United States,” says Bradlee Dean, the head of the “punk rock” ministry You Can Run But You Cannot Hide, which brings its overtly religious message to public schools at taxpayer expense. Therefore, he concludes, the appointment by Barack Obama of Minneapolis’ Sharon Lubinski, a lesbian, as a U.S. Marshal is illegal.

On his radio show on AM 1280 The Patriot on Saturday, Dean said, “Sodomy is against the law in the United States. Homosexuality is against the law in the United States.”

“…But, what did Obama do and Amy Klobuchar do? They nominated Sharon Lubinski to the U.S. Marshal in the state of Minnesota,” he continued. “Not only is she the first woman, but she is the first lesbian to serve in such a position. Again folks, this is against the law.”

A bit later, he chides Gov. Tim Pawlenty for not stopping the Lubinski appointment:

“Why are these laws not being enforced? Why was a lesbian just nominated for the U.S. Marshal nominated for the U.S. Marshal on your watch? Don’t sit there and tell me you don’t have any power to do anything about it. You have all the power to do something about it.”

Dean’s ministry has plenty of political support from big names in Pawlenty’s party. U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann has been involved in You Can Run fundraising efforts, and GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer was among attendees at the group’s most recent fundraiser. Congressional candidate Allen Quist and Republican Mary Kiffmeyer, former secretary of state, are among the organization’s backers.

Lubinski, sworn in Friday, is widely believed to be the first openly lesbian Marshal in U.S. history.

Listen:

The Minneapolis assistant police chief was recommended by U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar last year, then nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the Senate.

Lubinski is widely regarded as the first lesbian to hold the position. She will serve in the District of Minnesota.

U.S. marshals oversee federal courthouse security, witness protection, the apprehension of federal fugitives and the transport of federal prisoners.

Photo: Minneapolis Journal, MHS

The winter issue of Hennepin History magazine recounts a notorious Great Depression-era bank robbery in Minneapolis, with story lines seemingly ripped from today’s newspapers: A murderous attack on a street-corner business in a city so broke it can’t pay police, inspiring the formation of what sounds like the first Metro Gang Strike Force.

The Barker gang killed three men on Dec. 16, 1932: two police officers in the course of robbing the Third Northwestern National Bank and, while parked in St. Paul to divide their take, a Good Samaritan.

The officers, it turns out, were working for free:

At 2:43 p.m., a police cruiser carrying two experienced officers — Ira Evans and Leo Gorski — pulled up to the bank. Evans and Gorski were not on duty when they received the police-radio message …

Nor were Evans and Gorski even on the Minneapolis police payroll — none of the force was: In the depression-era economy, the department had run of money at midnight on December 11. Policemen had received their last checks on December 13, with pay two days short and agreed to work from December 11 to January 1 without pay, the lost wages never to be made up. When Gorski and Evans answered the call, they were working overtime and without compensation.

Gorski and Evans were outgunned, with only revolvers against the gangsters’ machine guns and shotguns. After their deaths, Mayor William A. Anderson pleaded for:

… a spirit of cooperation among our best and wealthiest citizens, a determination to provide not only adequate wages for their protectors but modern equipment, machine guns, armored cars, with which to combat clever and ruthless thieves. If this result is accomplished, it will be an example for other cities to follow, and perhaps the lives of Evans and Gorski will not have been given in vain.

Author Robert C. Rasmussen writes that Anderson’s plea was answered within City Hall:

The Minneapolis City Council responded by appropriating funds to buy the latest weaponry and police vehicles. This led to the creation of special assault teams trained to deal with the most dangerous situations in the Twin Cities.

Hennepin History magazine is not available online. You can get a copy at the Hennepin History Museum.

MN Publius’ Zach Stephenson asks whether the video is evidence that Day is already acting as a lobbyist.

Not until he earns $3,000 for his lobbying services, says Gary Goldsmith, executive director at the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. Goldsmith tells the Minnesota Independent that’s the threshold to meet the definition of a lobbyist under state law.

That definition specifically says that the term “‘lobbyist’ does not include a public official,” but Goldsmith tells MnIndy the law doesn’t actually prohibit a legislator from also lobbying.

But there’s a lot of overlap between activities included in the two job descriptions — persuading elected officials, for one. And in Day’s case, with the Legislature out of session, it’s an especially foggy area. Legislators are allowed to engage in outside employment, hobbies and advocacy.

Here is the video in question:

Image: fcc.gov

The Star Tribune started it, and now the newspaper has announced an end to the saga of the flat-screen TVs at the state facility for sex offenders at Moose Lake. The facility’s director has been reprimanded and the TVs have been punished.

No sooner did the Strib reveal in October that $1,500 plasma TVs grace common areas at the facility than Gov. Pawlenty ordered the sets removed for resale or (he decided on reflection) transfer to veterans’ homes.

Pawlenty also vowed that whoever made the “bonehead” decision to install fancy TVs at Moose Lake should get “reprimanded, at a minimum.” And Thursday the Strib confirmed that the facility’s director, who wasn’t there when the “bonehead” decision was made, has received a verbal tsk-tsk.

Eight of the sets got wrecked en route from Moose Lake to their new homes. Only four have been installed at veterans’ homes in Minneapolis and Moose Lake.

Any mention of his cuts to Local Government Aid (LGA) are absent from the Whereases of Pawlenty’s emergency order:

WHEREAS, the providing of fire and rescue services in the protection of lives and property is a primary function of government; and

WHEREAS, while this vital public safety function is performed by local governments, considerable potential exists for increased efficiency, effectiveness, and cost-savings by voluntary and cooperative shared services models; and

WHEREAS, recent creation of several shared services fire and rescue districts in different parts of the state demonstrates the interest and need to increase efficiency; and

WHEREAS, additional and alternate models for shared fire and rescue services warrant discussion, as do issues of governance, funding, liability, pensions, procurement, and related topics; and

WHEREAS, the Commissioner of Public Safety, through the Fire Marshal Division of the Department of Public Safety, has extensive existing relationships, statewide jurisdiction, and substantial statutory duties related to the fire and rescue services of Minnesota and so is ideally-suited to convene such a group.

Unsealed court documents have unleashed a wave of press about an American ring allied with a terror group in Somalia. Minneapolis “is the center of it,” the local FBI head tells the AP.

Elsewhere in Minnesota news this morning …

MINNEAPOLIS: Thissen chats! State Sen. Paul Thissen, a DFL gubernatorial candidate, holds a video chat at noon today. [Polinaut]

HOPKINS: Good turnout at DFL guv-race forum. Not the 11 candidates, but the capacity crowd of 700 who showed up to hear them, a year ahead of the election. [Pioneer Press]

DULUTH: Danger on the streets. Anti-abortion protesters alleged a threat by a woman with a knife Tuesday, and a car crashed into the Minnesota Teen Challenge building. [News Tribune; Northland's News Center]

KANDIYOHI COUNTY: Publicly funded taxi service to end. The final night of service is New Year’s Eve, with the last cab — inconveniently enough for rural revelers – at 9:30 p.m. [West Central Tribune]

AUSTIN: Stormy days in public safety. A police captain faces sentencing for swiping evidence, and the fire chief faces investigation for a hostile work environment. [Austin Daily Herald]

OWATONNA: Tensions persist at parent meeting. High school officials tried to quash rumors and quell fears about conflicts between white and Somali students. [Owatonna People's Press]

Image: fcc.gov

As the holidays approach, prices are falling on flat-screen TVs like the ones that Gov. Pawlenty had removed from the civil-commitment facility for sex offenders at Moose Lake. Which suggests a dilemma: at what price point can the state ethically buy 50-inch TVs for sex offenders?

At $1,500 each, plus mounting costs, purchasing 50-inch plasma TVs for common areas where sex-crime ex-cons are confined indefinitely was a “bonehead decision,” T-Paw said at the time.

But now, you can get the same size TVs for $1,000. That’s a 33-percent drop, considerably better than the 400 percent hike in what it costs the state to run its Sex Offender Program since 2003, Pawlenty’s first year in office.

Every man has his price. What do salespeople have to do so that T-Paw leaves with a brand-new flat-screen TV for the sex offenders at Moose Lake?

“It’s like a roach motel,” says Phil Duran, an attorney with OutFront Minnesota, who has been an advocate for individuals committed to the program. “People check in, but they never check out.”

Gov. Tim Pawlenty and his Republican allies in the Legislature have repeatedly stated that spending on health and human services programs is out of control. He returned to the theme last week in announcing a proposal for an amendment to the state constitution to cap spending. “The health and human services budget is growing at rates that are just absolutely unsustainable,” Pawlenty stated.

But while politicians rail against the purported runaway costs of welfare spending and slash health insurance for some of the state’s poorest residents, the program with the most rapidly rising cost never merits mention.

Since 2003 the budget for the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP) has increased by almost 400 percent, mushrooming from $18.5 million annually to $71.6 million in just six years. The program is a budgetary black hole, but legislators don’t seem to care.

“It’s very difficult to get people to engage on it,” says Linda Berglin, who chairs the Health and Human Services Budget Division, and has sought changes to the MSOP for years. “Nobody wants to be associated with sex offenders. Nobody wants to be responsible for something that might cause a problem later on.”

But while the MSOP is largely ignored during budgetary debates, it recently garnered headlines because of the controversial purchase of two dozen flat-screen televisions for the facility in Moose Lake where the bulk of the patients reside. After the purchase details were outlined in the Star Tribune, Pawlenty immediately ordered that the televisions be removed. The plasma screens are now to be utilized by veterans’ homes and the Minnesota National Guard.

The televisions, however, are a fiscal red herring. Even at the extravagant cost of $2,282 to purchase and install each screen, they represent a rounding error in the overall cost of the sex offender program.

MSOP population mushroomed following Sjodin murder

The reason for the skyrocketing cost of the MSOP is simple: The number of sex offenders civilly committed to the program has surged dramatically in recent years. In 2003 there were 199 men (there are no women) being held at facilities in St. Peter and Moose Lake. But in the ensuing six years the population has nearly tripled, with 547 sex offenders currently being held for an indeterminate period of time. Each person enrolled in the program costs the state $134,000 annually.

The timing of this explosion in cost and sex offender commitments is by no means coincidental. In November 2003, Dru Sjodin, a 22-year-old college student, was murdered by a sex offender named Alfonso Rodriquez, Jr., who had been released from prison earlier that year after serving 23 years for stabbing and attempting to kidnap a woman. He also had a previous conviction for rape.

In the wake of that high-profile crime, the Minnesota Department of Corrections began referring all Level III sex offenders — those deemed most likely to commit additional crimes — due to be released for consideration of commitment. In addition, Pawlenty ordered that no civilly committed sex offenders be released unless required by law or ordered to do so by the courts. Under state law, the authority to provisionally release an offender who has met all the treatment requirements rests with a three-judge panel.

The ramifications of these changes were twofold: the pool of offenders being considered for civil commitment was dramatically expanded, and the odds of patients being released from the program were greatly reduced.

“Before Rodriguez the referrals that we were getting as examiners were really very, very dangerous sex offenders,” says Paul Reitman, a forensic psychologist who has screened candidates for civil commitment for roughly two decades. “Typically they had 10, 15, 20 victims.”

In some instances, individuals who have never committed violent offenses have gotten swept up in the program. The changes implemented to the program have also increased the number of people facing civil commitment who have only committed crimes as juveniles or suffer from developmental disabilities.

“We started getting a whole different group of people,” says Reitman.

So what exactly is Minnesota getting for its $70 million-a-year sex offender program? Duran, of OutFront Minnesota, doesn’t believe the MSOP has any credible means of treating patients. He points out that in response to the flat-screen television flap, the head of the program argued that the large-screen televisions were part of the treatment program.

“Then there are millions of Minnesotans every night who receive sex offender treatment,” Duran notes. “Who knew? If that’s the quality of decision making, then you know something’s wrong.”

Duran further points out that residents of the facilities are subjected to rules that even the most diligent patient would find exasperating to follow. For instance, he says, a ban on physical contact even extends to a prohibition on shaking hands.

“Shaking hands? That is a dangerous activity?” he wonders. “Help me understand in what context that makes sense.”

The systemic problems with the program are not a new development. But Berglin notes that primary oversight rests with the Minnesota Department of Human Services and that the Legislature’s authority is somewhat limited.

Last legislative session, for instance, Berglin sought what she thought was a fairly anodyne change. She introduced a bill that would have allowed felons facing potential civil commitment to voluntarily remain in prison until they had completed a sex-offender treatment program, thus potentially decreasing the chances that they’ll be subject to indefinite detainment.

“The Department of Corrections went bonkers,” she recalls. “They just went ballistic. I could not get that bill out of the judiciary committee because of the extreme position of the Department of Corrections.”

Little political will to reform program

Even when legislation has been pushed through it’s proven ineffective in breaking the patient logjam. Two years ago Berglin sponsored legislation changing the administrative process through which civilly committed sex offenders can be released. The sign-off previously had to come from the top official at the Minnesota Department of Human Services, a political appointee. Under the new legislation, the final call on whether a patient is released after completing treatment is made by a three-judge panel. But it made no difference in whether individuals were ultimately released.

Reitman and others stress that lower-cost alternatives exist that would be just as effective in protecting the public from people who have committed heinous crimes. In states such as Wisconsin, Washington and Texas, for instance, sex offenders have routinely been released from civil commitment programs and not committed additional crimes. The key to success: intensive supervision and continued treatment. If the offenders fail to follow through on any aspects of their therapy plan, they again lose their freedom.

“The research tells us that what really keeps these guys from sexually recidivating is being under intensive supervision,” says Reitman. “In reality the treatment model is there for us to follow.”

Margretta Dwyer, a former head of the sexual therapy program at the University of Minnesota, agrees that much cheaper alternatives exist to effectively treat sex offenders. She notes that it costs the state $134,000 annually to keep an offender civilly committed. “You could hire two guards in 12 hours shifts for $50,000 per year, per person and still save money,” she says.

But Dwyer believes the will to have a meaningful discussion about how to effectively deal with sex offenders is lacking at every level of the government. “Everyone’s afraid,” she says. “Every judge is afraid to step forward. Every representative and senator is afraid to step forward.”